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My car accident, Police and Insurance company

I had bought a car in September 2014 for my business purpose which had an accident in May 2015. The car was going to airport, with guests in it, when an over speed bus hit it from the back. The street from Varanasi city to the airport is a two lane highway and an over speed bus which was trying to take over the car hit it and my car came right in the middle of the street and a motorbike coming from the front hit the car from front. The accident was so serious that the lady sitting on the back seat of the motorbike, which hit the from front, hit the front windshield of the car from her head and broke it. She did not have any serious injury but the person driving the bike had serious injuries and he was admitted in a hospital.

The driver who was driving the bus left the bus on the street and ran away from there so I never got to see him. The bus did not only hit my car but it also ran over another motorbike. The motorbike driver somehow survived, actually he reached right under the bus so did not get any injury but his bike was damaged completely. The trunk and hood of my car were completely damaged. The accident also caused some mechanical problems in the car. Luckily nothing happened to the car driver and guests sitting in my car. I was at home when the accident happened and the driver, Mr. Sanjay, informed me about it. The accident spot was around 20 KMs from home so it took me almost an hour to reach there. During this time the Police came and sent my car and the bus to the Police station.

After arriving at the Police station I first asked Mr. Sanjay and he said no one other than the bike driver. I tried to get some information about him but it was not easy. Finally I went to see my car and suddenly I noticed that LED screen for rear view was missing. I asked Mr. Sanjay what happened to it and he was also surprised to see that it was not there. I went to see the back camera and it was also missing. Now I checked my car and noticed that all of the external car accessories (some wires, mobile charger etc) + a few CDs, jump drives, my glasses and a few documents were also missing. While we were just talking about it suddenly a person standing next to us said that he had seen Police taking everything out of my car and carrying it to the Police station. This gentleman had a shop next to the Police station.

Now I was kind of relaxed that at least all of those stuffs were with Police. After inspecting the car we went to the Police station and asked for all of those stuffs. Two Police officers present there said that they did not know anything about it. I went back to that person who had seen Police taking everything and asked him it again. He said that he was cent percent sure that a Policeman took everything and kept it inside the Police station. He in fact knew the name of that Police officer as well. He said that the Policeman who took everything was Mr. Sonkar. Now we returned back to the Police station and asked them where was Mr. Sonkar and they sent me to a small house which was right behind the Police station.

We went there, knocked the door and a person wearing shorts opened the door. I asked him if Mr. Sonkar was there and he said that he himself was Mr. Sonkar. I asked him about my car accessories and he said that he had kept them in safe at the Police station. He sent me back to the Police station and asked me to take help of other Policemen there. I returned back to the Police station and told them that Mr. Sonkar has kept everything in a safe. They opened all of the safes in front of me but found nothing. Now they sent me back to Mr. Sonkar. We again knocked the door and this time Mr. Sonkar got angry on us. He was angry because he was taking a nap, while on duty, and we were disturbing him.

We requested him to give our stuffs back and he said that he did not know anything about it and locked the door again. Now we were waiting for him at the Police station, he showed up again after two hours but his response was still the same. He said that he had kept everything in the safe and if it is not there then it means somebody stole it and he was not responsible for it. It made me really angry but I could not do anything. I was talking about it with another Police officer there and after a while he also confirmed that Mr. Sonkar had taken everything to his room. I was angry and sad both and told that Policeman that I was relaxed when I first heard that all the accessories were with the Police because I knew that everything was in safe hands and then the response of that Police officer literally shocked me. He laughed and said that who told you that Police is not thief.

I did not know what to say so I just gave up. During this time I also called the New India Assurance insurance office in Delhi and gave me contact number of someone Mr. Singh in Varanasi. I called Mr. Singh and he said that first try to take the car Police and then call him. I also asked him if I should register an FIR with the Police and he said that if we register an FIR then the process will be longer to better settle everything on mutual consent. He said that if the case is registered then there will be hearings for months at the court and I won’t get my car back until the hearing is finished. So I told the Police station that I did not want an FIR to be lodged but they said that they won’t give my car back until and unless they have not heard that the bike driver admitted in the hospital is safe.

Their excuse was that in case if something happens to that driver or if they register a case from their side then the case has to be registered. So now the only option I has was to wait. Finally after a week I got a phone call from the owner of the bus who said that the bike driver was safe and he also wanted to settle the case without registering any complaint. I agreed on meeting with him at the Police station the next day. When I arrived at the Police station he was already present there, there was someone from the family of that bike driver as well and we all wrote a letter to Police saying that we did not want the case to be registered and finally I got me my car back.

Now I called Mr. Singh, Insurance officer, again and he said that just bring your car to any authorized Maruti dealer and leave it there. They will repair it and we will pay for it. The shop where I had bought the car was AGR Automobiles in Varanasi so I just brought my car there. They took some pics of my car, did some documentation work and said that it will take them around 10 days to repair my car which sounded absolutely fine. They also said that they did not have all the parts available so it might take 3-4 days more. Now I started going everyday to the service center and everyday they had a new excuse but one thing was common everyday that they have already ordered the parts but they don’t have it yet and they are already overworking.

It took them almost two months just to get the parts and more than three weeks to repair my car. It was very frustrating but there was not even a place where I could complaint about it. The car was ready and it was the time to settle the bill. I was supposed to pay only a processing fee of Rs. 1,000 but I was given a bill of Rs. 35,000. When I asked them why the bill was so big they said that the insurance does not cover any fiber parts, scratches and some other smaller parts but still the bill seemed so big. I also notice that the insurance company was paying only Rs. 31,000 which did not seem fair at all. I bought the insurance but insurance company was paying less than the customer??

They asked me to contact Insurance company and their excuse was such a nonsense. They said that in case of accidents spot photography (photography of the car at the place where accident happened) is necessary which was not done hence I have to pay more. I asked them why did not they do spot photography and they said because I did not ask them to do so. I was like what the fuck is this, how come you can expect me to tell you your job? It was your job and you should have done it but they just did not want to hear anything. I called Mr. Singh and he was also telling the same thing. I reminded him about what he had said when I spoke with him the first time but he completely denied it, in fact he started shouting at me.

I told him that I will take the case to consumer forum court and he said do whatever you want but we won’t pay even a single ruppe more than the amount already sanctioned. It clearly seemed like he had already done such thing several times and he had no threat of consumer court at all. I had already lost a lot of business and money due to this car accident and I did not have any money left but now I had two options- either I spend more money on going to the court, wait for endless time for judgement to come (India has most number of legal cases pending in the whole world) or pay the money he wanted and start my business again. I contacted many people from different fields such as insurance, travel agents, lawyers and all of them told me that these things happen all the time, there was nothing new what happened with me.

I thought a lot and again surrender before the corrupt Police, government and judiciary. I borrowed some money from my friends and family and paid the amount they wanted so that at least my living starts. This whole experience was so horrible that I changed that insurance company and still think what kind of justice is there or if it is really possible for a normal person like me to get justice? I know that corruption is everywhere in India but UP and Bihar always tops the list. Police should be more responsible than government because they are the ones whom people like me deal with but it is more than 100% corrupt in UP and it becomes worse as soon as Samajwadi Party comes in power. Police stole all my car accessories, Maruti took almost three months to repair my car and Insurance company did not pay…and still I can’t think of any place where I can complaint about them.

After going through this experience it reminded me of a very famous Bollywood movie dialogue when Nana Patekar says सौ में से अस्सी बेईमान, फिर भी मेरा देश महान (80 out of 100 are cheaters but still my country is great) ! I have a hope from the central government but I know that it won’t be easy for them to finish this corruption soon because the political parties which have ruled India destroyed this country so much that corruption has become part of the system and depending on different states sometimes there is some help and sometimes no help at all. Jai Hind.